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1ll
UNDERGROUND ROOMS AND STABLE DWELLINGS—
An underground room is defined in the Public Health (London)
Act, 1891, Sec. 96, Sub-sec. 9, as
"Any room of a house, the surface of the floor of which
"room is more than three feet below the surface of the foot"way
of the adjoining- street, or of the ground adjoining or
"nearest to the room."
At the present time, it is illegal for any underground room
to be let or occupied separately as a dwelling unless it satisfies
the very stringent conditions and requisites contained in the 11
clauses (a—k) of Sec. 96 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891.
It must be noted that the Act only applies when an underground
room is separately occupied as a dwelling.
If a room is occupied underground in conjunction with a room
or rooms on a higher floor, there is no separate occupation of
the underground room.
In 18 instances, underground rooms were found by the
Inspectors to be separately occupied in contravention of the law.
Notices were served and the conditions remedied.